Your Guide to Warm-Season Grasses in Florida
Lawn Maintenance Best Practices & More
Warm-season turf varieties reign supreme in the South. Their location and the climates they face gives them their superior drought resistance and reduced upkeep requirements. What’s the best benefit of these types of grass? They can retain that green look, even in peak summer temperatures.
There are so many important things to know about warm-season grass! Continue reading to learn about irrigation, fertilization, and mowing tips, how to identify the different warm-season grasses, and more. Knowing your turf and teaming up with Luv-A-Lawn keeps your lawn beautiful all year long.
Where Do Warm-Season Grasses Grow?
The southern third of the country provides ideal conditions for the warm-season turf. These types can handle scorching summers and take extreme heat without any stress. They prefer areas where winters avoid long periods of freezing temperatures that could potentially damage the crowns.
The Transition Zone, located somewhat northward, presents challenges. This mid-country area has summers that are too hot for cool-season varieties and winters that are too cold for warm-season types. Property owners here find it difficult to know exactly what their yard needs. Depending on your grass variety, lawns may turn brown during summer or winter.
The Transition Zone very often has tall fescue or zoysia because of the extreme temperature fluctuations. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than having brown turf that can’t survive half the year.
What Exactly Is a Warm-Season Grass?
Florida homeowners likely have noticed how well their lawns look from late spring into early fall. Most southern lawns are made up of warm-season turf varieties. This type of grass does best when temperatures are between 80°F and 95°F.
Warm-season types have different photosynthesis processes than cool-season varieties. They thrive in higher temperatures, making them more resistant to high temperatures, full sun, and drought. They also go into dormancy and reduce growth when it gets cold. Many remain green but some turn brown for winter and survive underground.
Top Types of Warm-Season Grass
St. Augustine has wider blades than Bermuda or zoysia, thus giving it a coarser texture. It is also the most shade-tolerant warm-season type. It is, therefore, the best option for lawns with several trees. It also does well in hot, humid climates, spreads fast via stolons, recovers fast from stressors, and is dense enough to exclude weeds.
The big disadvantage of St. Augustine is its water needs; it requires more irrigation than the others. It also tolerates heavy traffic less well. In humid regions, certain pests and diseases particularly like St. Augustine.
Bermuda varieties produce the dense, mat-like turf you see in those perfectly manicured southern lawns. Fine-textured and dark green in color, it is highly aesthetically pleasing and tolerates full sun and high foot traffic beautifully.
The disadvantage? It requires regular upkeep. One has to mow it frequently, apply the right kind of fertilizers, and carry out drought watering. Bermuda grass spreads with the aid of underground stems called rhizomes and surface runners called stolons. These allow it to overcome any damage quickly.
It’s fairly resistant to drought once established but goes into dormancy during winter when the temperature drops below 50° F and turns brown, therefore not ideal if the preference is to have a green lawn throughout the year.
Zoysia has several cultivars, and homeowners love the fact that it produces dense sod that crowds out weeds and is soft to walk on in bare feet. Zoysia loves the sun but tolerates partial shade much better than Bermuda. It’s adaptable and makes do with different kinds of soil. If your soil is heavy clay or sandy, zoysia will grow.
Zoysia is a slow grower, especially when rated against Bermuda. The good news? It requires less frequent mowing than other grass types. Perfect if you want pretty lawn grass with minimal work hours. The drawbacks? It is slower to green up or recover from disease issues and may go brown in certain areas of Florida.
Is it okay to mix different grasses? With warm-season varieties, mixing types doesn’t work quite as well as it does with cool-season varieties. For instance, Bermuda is aggressive and will eventually overpower zoysia or St. Augustine. Most lawn-care professionals say to stick with one type and maintain the same throughout.
However, you may find Bermuda and zoysia turf varieties combined, but Bermuda tends to dominate the sunny spots while zoysia prevails in the shaded areas.
How to Water Warm-Season Lawns
Southern heat has given warm-season turf several distinctive advantages. Like naturally being more drought-resistant than cool-season varieties. In fact, grass in our region uses about 20 percent less moisture. That’s a big plus during summer!
But how much should you water in Florida? Generally, most warm-season lawns need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Amounts vary based on sun exposure, soil type and local weather. For example, most turf requires only 1 inch of moisture during winter months (if your lawn remains green and growing).
For example, lawns in the full sun generally need about 2 inches a week for the entire growing season. For partial shade and sun, aim for approximately 1 inch. Highly shaded areas may require less.
How to water warm-season types best? One good weekly soaking, as opposed to light daily watering. You want to get that water right down to the roots, 6 to 8 inches deep. It may seem counterintuitive, but that’s how it works!
The problem with daily light watering? It sets up shallow root systems, which make your lawn less drought-resistant and more susceptible to weeds and disease.
Best time of the day to water turf? Between 4 and 8 a.m. Water pressure is highest, wind doesn’t interfere with spray patterns, and evaporation loss is at its lowest. If that doesn’t work, the next best time is between 8 a.m. and noon.
Remember, clays hold on to moisture longer and sand drains faster. You may need to adjust the schedule to accommodate watering more or less depending on your soil’s composition.
And remember that during the hottest summer weather, warm-season types such as Bermuda and zoysia can go dormant and will need even less water, while St. Augustine needs to be watered. It may naturally turn a golden-brown color until the temperature cools.
Fertilizing Warm-Season Lawns
When should fertilizer be applied to warm-season varieties? During active growth! So, late spring through summer. This is to capitalize on peak performance months, maintain density, and keep your lawn thriving and picture-perfect.
Keep in mind that nitrogen does more for a well-established lawn. It promotes leaf growth and that luscious green color that everyone wants. In a new lawn, phosphorus and potassium are more important because they help with root and stem development.
Allow warm-season types to remain unfertilized in early spring when they are still dormant or just awakening. Wait until your soil temperatures reach 65°F, and your turf is actively growing. Do not fertilize right after late summer. Feeding too late in the season can make it more vulnerable to damage in the cold weather.
How to ID Your Warm-Season Grass
Ready to identify what type of grass is in your yard? Here are some tips to help with identification:
- Growth habit: Bermuda spreads vigorously through both rhizomes and stolons. This means it can, either positively or negatively, dominate turf rapidly. St. Augustine spreads exclusively through stolons running above ground and rooting at nodes. Zoysia spreads through both rhizomes and stolons but develops more gradually than Bermuda.
- Leaf blade: Observe blade width and texture. St. Augustine has the widest blades, around 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, with rounded tips. Bermuda possesses very fine, narrow blades with pointed tips. Zoysia is in between these two in terms of medium-width blades, but feels rigid when touched.
- Seedhead: Bermuda produces characteristic seedheads with 3-7 finger-like projections emanating from a central point. St. Augustine rarely produces seedheads in mowed turf. Zoysia generates small, dainty seedheads sticking out like miniature brushes, although many cultivars do not seed significantly.
- Color and texture: St. Augustine is blue-green and coarse textured. Bermuda has a deep green to grey-green color with a smooth feel. Zoysia goes from medium to deep green with thick, carpetlike texture that’s denser and firmer feeling than Bermuda.
- Ligule and auricles: St. Augustine exhibits hair fringe where blade meets stem instead of membrane. Bermuda has a white ring of hair at the ligule. Zoysia exhibits brief hairs along the ligule. None of these cultivars have noticeable auricles.
Telling them apart is not that hard, especially if you take a closer look. Still unsure what’s in your yard? Just ask! A lawn care professional can tell you what kind of grass you have in seconds.
What’s the Deal With Thatch?
For your lawn’s well-being, keep an eye on the thatch amount you have. You know, that organic matter layer building up right above soil.
The good: A little. It moderates soil temperature and cushions the soil. The bad: Too much thatch prevents water and air movement, reduces fertilizer effectiveness, and harbors diseases and insects.
Thatch forms because of overfertilizing, overwatering, soil compaction, and time. Roots form in the thatch layer rather than soil when it becomes too thick. Because thatch holds minimal water, your lawn experiences heat stress, cold stress, and drought stress.
How to Battle Weeds & Crabgrass
Pre-emergent herbicides are the best approach to addressing the crabgrass and other problem weeds before they emerge. This type of herbicide inhibits the sprouting of summer annual weeds.
Apply when soil temperatures are between 55 and 60°F-usually mid-February to early March. Miss this window and you’ll be fighting crabgrass all summer.
Already seeing weeds coming through? Post-emergence herbicides kill actively growing ones. The best time for spot-spraying of broadleaf weeds, such as dollar weed, clover, and dandelions is late spring to early summer. This is when they’ll more readily absorb herbicide.
Additionally, other fall treatments can be effective. As temperatures drop, plants absorb nutrients for winter dormancy.
Common Warm-Season Lawn Problems
- Compaction and thatch. This creates several problems, especially in heavy clay soils. Aeration during late spring or early summer, when your turf is actively growing, helps alleviate these problems while enabling the lawn to recover rapidly.
- Pest infestations. Grubs and chinch bugs can quickly, and quietly, destroy your yard. Grubs and other insects eat grass, leaving it weakened or killed within days and even hours of an attack. Some of the most obvious signs of lawn infestations include wilting, yellowing, or dead areas.
- Nutrient lockout sometimes causes yellowing or poor growth in turf on acidic southern soils. Soil testing will determine exact deficiencies and pH problems. Lime applications will raise pH where necessary, and sulfur will lower it if you are in a region with alkaline soil.
- Among warm-season grasses, fungal diseases tend to be common, especially in the hot and humid South. St. Augustine and Zoysia are susceptible to brown patch and gray leaf spot, while Bermuda can be susceptible to dollar spot and spring dead spot. These often manifest as circular brown sections, thinning zones, or discoloration of turf. The easiest ways to prevent lawn disease in the South? Proper lawn maintenance. Water in the morning, mow at the right height, avoid over-fertilizing in peak heat, and check on your lawn’s drainage.
What to Do During Winter Dormancy
When it stays below 50-55°F for several days or weeks during late fall and winter, warm-season varieties will naturally go dormant and turn brown. They are not dead. That is just their survival mechanism. So, do not panic! Your turf is alive underneath.
You can’t really keep warm-season turf green through winter dormancy, whereas cool-season varieties stay green year-round. Fertilizing or overwatering dormant warm-season turf won’t help and may cause additional damage. Some Southerners like to overseed with annual ryegrass in fall to provide temporary winter color, but this is optional and strictly cosmetic.
To give your turf the best possible start after dormancy, do some winter lawn care during the colder months. For example, avoid heavy traffic on frozen or dormant turf; also, do not use herbicides during dormancy.
Once temperatures are regularly reaching into the 65°F range in spring, your turf will green up on its own. In the South, active growth resumes roughly during March to April, after which you can resume your regular watering and fertilizer application.
FAQs About Warm-Season Grasses
Can I mix warm and cool-season grasses?
Because of the differences in their growth patterns and seasonal preferences, it is not a good idea to combine both warm- and cool-season types into one lawn. The result would be spotty, inconsistent turf.
How long does grass seed take to grow?
It depends upon the variety. In general, Bermuda germinates in 7-14 days, and some varieties like bahia take longer (21-30 days). Obviously it does depend upon soil temperature and moisture levels. Note: Most property owners in the south opt for sod or plugs instead of seed for faster establishment. This is often true with St. Augustine and zoysia.
What’s the best grass for shade?
St. Augustine tolerates shade better than most other warm-season turfgrasses. Zoysia ranks second. Keep in mind that grasses are naturally sun lovers. So, no variety does well in deep shade where it gets less than 4-6 hours of direct sun per day.
Can I grow warm-season grass in winter?
Planting of warm-season turf during winter isn’t advised since it needs warm soil temperatures around 65° Fahrenheit or elevated to germinate and establish. It’s best to plant late in the spring through early summer when soil is warm, and your turf has the full growing season to develop a good root system.
We’re Ready to Help!
Warm-season types must be mowed, watered, and fertilized at the right times to stay healthy and look their best. Now you have some useful tips at your disposal!
If you don’t want to use your free time (and energy) to take care of every little lawn care detail, reach out to Luv-A-Lawn! Every yard is different, so contact us to get the best care for your lawn. We proudly serve several Florida cities and the surrounding communities, ensuring high-quality lawn care and pest control services across the region: